Far out! Jenny confirms infrared heating is hot stuff

Six minutes after being switched on, the surface of the 600W far infrared heater panel went from the same temperature as the ceiling, to above 120 degrees (beyond the range of my thermal camera)! In the same period the surface temperature of the shower chair, 1.9 metres below, increased by ~3.5 degrees.

As the cold weather finally sets in, several people have been asking me what I think about the far infrared heater panels we have on our bathroom ceilings (the only heating in the whole house). People have also been enquiring about how quickly they heat things up.

In short, we love them. Knowing that a picture is worth a thousand words, last night (a fairly chilly autumn evening), I placed a shower chair under the panel, in the spot we stand to dry ourselves post-shower, grabbed my trusted thermal camera and captured infrared images of the chair, and the panel, from 0 to 17 minutes after switching the panel on (at which point my arm got tired holding the camera). See a collage of these images below: chair first, then heater panel.

Keep in mind that the chair is quite a distance from the ceiling and a human standing under the panel would be feeling plenty more of that lovely warmth on the skin of their head, shoulders, and body. I can vouch for that from personal experience.

You'll see that the panel quickly gets above the maximum temperature that my camera can read so the colours don't change. When looking at the panel images at the bottom of this post, pay attention to the increase in average temperature (the middle number above the little rectangle) - it goes from 19.2 to 105.6 degrees.

Generally the Light House science team use the thermal camera to check for insulation gaps and air leaks in building envelopes. To read more about our science services click here.

You can read more about the far infrared heater panels and the technology behind them here.